Latest Stories

A Better Way to Split Data from an Excel Cell

Related

TOPICS

Uncategorized Article

In the July 2003 Tech
Q&A (page 84), we told you how to combine data from two
Excel cells into one and how to separate data into two cells. Nancy
Locke, a CPA from Jacksonville, Florida, suggests another way to split
a name in one cell and put it into two. Begin by copying the name (or
a list of names) and paste it into Notepad, which is a word processor
that comes as a free Windows accessory. (To launch Notepad click on
Start , All Programs ,
Accessories and Notepad .) Then
save the Notepad file and close it. Now open the Notepad file in
Excel; however, to be able to see it, you will have to change
Files of type from this:

to this:

Now click on Open . Since the file is stored as
text (.txt), Excel will automatically open its Text Import
Wizard and step you through the process of importing
information. The wizard can handle not just one column, but many
columns at one time. The technique works with data separated by commas
or tabs ( Delimited ) and names separated by spaces (
Fixed width ).

To customize the imported data under Fixed width ,
adjust the arrow that separates the names.

And the result is the name is split—one in each cell.

Do you have technology questions
for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a
better solution? Send them to contributing editor Stanley
Zarowin via e-mail at zarowin@mindspring.com
.

Because of the volume of mail, we regret we cannot
individually answer submitted questions. However, if a
reader’s question has broad interest, we will answer it in a
forthcoming Technology Q&A column.

On occasion you
may find you cannot implement a function I describe in this
column. More often than not it’s because not all functions
work in every operating system or application. I try to test
everything in the 2000 and XP editions of Windows and Office.
It’s virtually impossible to test them in all editions and
it’s equally difficult to find out which editions are
incompatible with a function. I apologize for the
inconvenience.